Here is my Acadia leading lines image from this fall’s trip. It rained the night before and left a nice puddle reflecting the trees, in addition to the welcoming fall path through the trees. I tried to tone down the whites in the trees but wonder if they are still too bright?
ISO100, f/16, 60mm, 1/40.
Kathy, excellent choice for the WC theme with “Leading Lines”. I find both the trees and the actual path as part of that theme. …
When I saw this image I immediately thought of a site I’ve traveled along in Colorado. …
As far as the brightness. I find that not only the trees as bright but the entire scene. I would work on the exposure and trying the gamma turn down for a start. Of course, the composition works perfectly, just a little more work with the intense light will finalize things IMO…
Kathy, this is a beautifully inviting scene. The tree reflections make a great into to the path. The ripples in the puddle are a nice extra. I like the overall brightness. While there are a few small spots that look pure white, it’s worth keeping in mind that in the majority of Ansel Adams’s prints there were always at least one spot of total black and one spot of total white.
Beautiful, Kathy. Love the scene and the brightness work quite well for me. It is not quite high key, but leans that way and I find it very effective. No suggestions here, just enjoying the image a lot.
Thanks for the feedback, Paul. I’m not familiar with “gamma” adjustments in PS and wonder why you suggest that rather than other ways of reducing the brightness?
Kathy, if my images are too intense on the brightness level bordering on hurting my eyes to visually look at them for any length of time, I adjust my gamma down first. Gamma for me normally only requires a downturn of 2 to 4 points. Exposure and offset I use for fine tuning high and low points.
Your point about other ways to adjust brightness in PS is a fact. PS has several ways for making changes across various adjustments. So, always subjective thoughts and no adjustments are wrong as long as we obtain the change we desired in the end.
Thanks for the explanation. I thought there might be something unique about gamma, but it doesn’t seem like it !
